Superbowl XLVI is history. Eil Manning and the Giants have returned to New York to celebrate, while Tom Brady will have to endure another year of sporting only three Superbowl rings.

Do you remember your favorite play of the game? If you’re a hardcore fan, one probably comes to mind right away. For the rest of us, not so much. We may say the Superbowl’s about celebrating the American pastime and watching two teams face off on the gridiron – and that may have been the case years ago, but let’s face it – today’s Superbowl is all about throwing a party and of course, watching the commercials.

So what was your favorite? Was it the Doritos bribing dog, or maybe M&M Mrs. in the buff, or Jerry Seinfield vying for the first new Acura, or even the dog getting fit to keep up with the VW? 

So what was your least favorite? Probably a couple come to mind right away – something you found especially irritating.  But here’s a tough question, what were some average commercials you saw? Ones that you thought, why did they spend all those advertising dollars on that?  Hmmm, having trouble remembering?  Why is that, why do we remember the great ones and not the average ones? 

It’s pretty obvious. We remember the ones that told a story, that tugged at our heartstrings, ones that made us laugh – we remember when we connect. 

Elearning kind of works the same way – a really average commercial has a lot of the same attributes as a really average eLearning program. We tune out, we turn off and we don’t remember.

That’s why at Cine Learning we make our eLearning engaging by focusing on storytelling in a familiar and entertaining way – our learners are likely to enjoy and yes, remember. And while we may not have a Sunday devoted to our eLearning with millions of devoted viewers…well not yet. We can always dream.

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Here’s one scenario we hear often. Let’s see if it applies to you:

You have – potentially – an amazing group of new hires. They’re eager to start work. They grab their cups of coffee, report to you and you take them to their office, their cube, their new cozy little home for 8 hours a day.

After they’re seated, per instruction from your corporate office, you log them into your company’s online “New Hire Orientation”…..all….three hours of it….

Your new staff clicks through slide after slide of content that would put the most fervent insomniac to sleep. They fidget, they yawn, they daydream, they think of a time when it will be over so they can start their ‘real work.’ But in the meantime, these new hires are silently de-motivating. They wonder if your workplace is an exciting one after all. I mean, it was your company that produced this death by PowerPoint they’re watching. They’re not catching on to important concepts they really need to know because it has been presented in such a non-engaging, rote fashion. They might as well be listening to Ben Stein deliver the information to them.

After it’s finished, your new hires resemble the walking dead. Your once eager new hires are now reduced to blank stares and limp bodies. Yes, they’ll awake soon enough, but the damage has been done. First impressions are powerful in any instance you choose. As adults, we make value judgments on just about everything. Our initial impressions often dictate how much we value something. If their first impression is bad eLearning, you could tune them out before you turn them on.

What kind of impression are you setting for your new hires? Our company, Cine Learning Productions has produced a number of New Hire Orientations that ‘wow’ new hires. We hear comments like,

“Our employees love this!”

Love?  New Hire Orientation?  Really?  Yes. Frankly, you have to know how to do it. We do. We can help.

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Organizations may need to re-think their method of ”check the box” compliance training if new government stats are any indication.

The numbers are in and according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency received a record number of private sector charges of employment discrimination in 2011 – the highest in its 46-year history. The year’s total topped 2010 results by 25 complaints with a total of 99,947. The EEOC reported the most common complaints to be alleged retaliation by the employer against the employee with 37,334 charges filed.

The EEOC staff obtained more than $455.6 million in monetary benefits for victims of workplace discrimination. This is the highest level recorded in the Commission’s history. In addition to retaliation charges, other complaints included discrimination based on religion, race, sex and age as well as disability bias. The agency achieved the highest payout in history despite a 30 percent reduction in the agency workforce. A related article by Cultural IQ quoted EEOC Chair Jacqueline Berrien.

“I am proud of the work of our employees and believe this demonstrates what can be achieved when we are given resources to enforce the nation’s laws prohibiting employment discrimination,” said Berrien. “The EEOC was able to strategically manage existing resources and take full advantage of increased resources in the past two fiscal years to make significant progress towards effective enforcement of the nation’s civil rights laws.”

So where do private sector companies fit into the equation?
Some speculate the sagging job market spurred employees to increase the number of complaints as reported by http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/24/10225036-discrimination-complaints-reach-all-time-high,  Another cause may be employers failing to provide adequate compliance training for all mployees based on discrimination laws enforced by the EEOC, http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/index.cfm.

Cine Learning Production CEO, Diane Senffner explains the key to accomplishing compliance training is providing concise, interesting content where the employee feels invested in the outcome. In a recent Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) eLearning course designed for the Arizona Department of Health Services, Senffner says ASHS reported 98 percent of employees voluntarily completed the course prior to the deadline without having to send reminders to employees. She explains such completion rates can be acheived with all types of complicance training including those required by the EEOC.

“I am very proud of the compliance courses we create,” she said. “Checking a box is fine but learners really need to understand the relevance of the material presented to them to comply. Our courses do that in a very engaging, learner-centric way.”

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If anyone needed any evidence of the rapidly changing digital landscape, they need only look at the recent fate of tech giant Hewlett-Packard. Faced with dwindling PC sales, while failing to make a dent in the Apple-dominated smartphone and tablet markets, HP took drastic action; On August 18, HP announced not only that they were shutting down their tablet and smartphone divisions, but were also considering spinning off their PC business. The fall from grace suffered by a former giant like HP is only another case of a company failing to tap into the potential of emerging technologies. It also shows how clinging to outmoded ideas about the role of technology can be a company’s death sentence.

So, what does all of this have to do with eLearning? If anything, HP’s recent woes should serve as a rallying cry for those who strive to redefine the eLearning space. The personal computer revolution is over. In its place is a new kind of computing revolution in which people can access information wherever and whenever they please. eLearning can’t be left behind in this new era of information. The opportunities presented by the tablet and smartphone markets are very exciting, and offer countless opportunities for innovation.

As it gets easier to access information, people will only expect more from the training they receive at work. Why sit through an antiquated slide show when a world of possibilities for learning lies in their pocket? In this new digital era, all it takes is one creative idea to completely redefine learning. Now imagine what an entire team of creative individuals could do. If information wishes to be free, then it’s up for the eLearning industry to open the gates.

Android · cine · eLearning · hewlett · hp · iPad · iPhone · learning · packard · smartphones · TouchPad · webOS

As adults, we place a value on every moment in our lives. When it comes to optional education, not compulsory education, we do what we MUST do first – in our jobs, in our lives. This leaves little time for anything else. eLearning and distance learning, unless prescribed, is only accessed when we need to learn something (argument for just-in-time learning).

Even when prescribed, as designers, we have very little time to MOTIVATE the learner before they disengage because of perceived lack of value (how will it help me in my work? in my daily life? Oh – this is humourous – I’m going to go through it because it’s fun…). If you are creating a page turner – a ‘PowerPoint on steroids’ – you can be sure that people will disengage quickly unless they need to learn the information or have to click through the course to get credit.

Distance education is only as good at the people you have creating it, and often, the money you wish to spend on it. Ben Franklin said, “Penny-wise, pound foolish.” This applies to eLearning as well. If you decide on a product completely created in China (sorry China, right now it’s really, very bad), you get what you pay for.  eLearning with a rapid authoring tool by an SME who knows nothing about adult education often falls into the same category. It’s no different than having someone who is a terribly bad facilitator teaching an instructor-led. We’ve all had those. There’s no value in them and we find the time spent  to be excruciating.

My advice is to leave eLearning and distance learning to the experts – those who understand the demographics of your learners and how they learn.  Be willing to let go the concept of ‘it must be serious and dry or it’s not learning’ and be driven to spend a little money because as my father used to say, ‘Nothing’s for nothing, kid.’

Oh and just when you think people do not like to learn online – look at social media tools, Google, wikipedia, etc. etc. People crave knowlege – they just don’t like to watch something dull that reads like a PowerPoint. When will we learn? It’s right there to harvest….

distance learning · e-learning